Hyundai exec admits Rambus shortage

RDRAM, RDRAM -- wherefore art thou, RDRAM?

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Hyundai Electronics VP of marketing Mark Ellsbery yesterday added his voice to the chorus of memory producers and chip-set vendors predicting limited availability of Rambus Direct DRAM throughout the year. "There will be a shortage of RDRAMs in 1999," he said, words that echo the warning given on Tuesday by the head of Fujitsu's semiconductor division, Masao Taguchi (see earlier story). Said Taguchi: "1999 is not going to be a Direct Rambus year." Ellsbery's comments came as his company announced it would begin shipping 64Mb RDRAMs and 72Mb error correction and compensation (ECC) RDRAMs in commercial quantities May before ramping up production to full volume by July. By October, the company hopes to have moved up to 128Mb/144Mb-density part, followed by a 128Mb unit. 256Mb RDRAM will go into production in Q2 2000, said Ellsbery, though even by the end of next year, it will still account for no more than ten per cent of the product mix. ® See alsoIntel, chip-set vendors prepare for Rambus shortage